Love You Forever
by cyclothimic
Summary: I don't know how to write summaries...so just read it and please gimme some reviews.


"Mugi-chan, do you know where Mio had gone off to? I can't see her anywhere and when I turned back, she was gone," Ritsu asked Tsumugi as she ate her curry bread bought from the cafeteria. She chomped on the piece of flour inside her mouth.

The blonde girl shrugged and shook her head. "I am sorry, Ricchan. But after the bell rang, I saw her go out the door. I am not sure where she went to though. Did you see her, Yui-chan?"

Yui who was constantly lightheaded as usual was busy eating her plate of noodles, when she looked up, there were a few noodles hanging out of her mouth. "What?" Then she realized that she had food inside and swallowed it. "Excuse me, guys. So erm...what are you talking about again?" she asked as Ui was helping her to wipe some stains off the edge of her mouth. "Thank you, Ui."

"Ricchan was wondering where might Mio-chan gone to. Have you seen her, Yui-chan?" Tsumugi repeated her question with patience and as usual with a smile tugging on the edge of her mouth.

"And you know, Yui-sempai...You were gross just now," Azusa spoke out from beside Ritsu. "I think I know where Mio might be, Ritsu-sempai. I just saw her going upstairs that led to the music room just now. Although I can't make sure that she's there."

"Sorry, Ricchan. But I was not actually paying attention just now because the easy way that Mio solved that Maths question spaced me out. But maybe Azunyan is right, Mio may well be in the music room practicing. Maybe, I can't guarantee that."

Ritsu frowned and chomped another piece of bread. "Are you all free later? We can go up there later and find her."

"I am sorry, Ricchan. But Mugi-chan and I have plan to head for the library. To study our history. Test is coming near, you know." Tsumugi covered her food container with the cover and apologized to Ritsu.

Ritsu turned her attention to junior club member of theirs with hope in her tinted eyes. "Don't look at me like that, Ritsu-sempai. I've got plans with Ui-chan and Jun-chan. We have to head to the office to help out our teacher. She needed us to help her carry some stuff into the hall."

Ritsu pouted and gave up on asking them helping her. She stood up and slammed her hand on the table. "Fine, y'all go settle your business. I'll go find Mio. I've got something to tell her, actually. See y'all later!" She said farewell with them and walked off, leaving her buddies behind.

"Ui-chan, I've been feeling that Ritsu was a lot weird lately. What's up with her anyways?" Azusa asked Ui, Yui's sister.

Ui shrugged and smiled at Azusa. "I don't know, Azusa-chan. Well, we should hurry up or we're gonna be in detention for lateness, you know."

* * *

The light breeze blew her way and caressed her smooth face like a pair of strong yet gentle hands, just like the ones Ritsu had with her. The pair of hands that loved playing the drums. It carried her black waist-long silky hair off her back and blew the lemony scent of her hair into the fresh air. Mio leaned against the railings that prevented her from falling off the building from the rooftop. She stared at the blue sky that was floating with clouds of different kind of shapes. The rooftop was a place that Mio often came when she had something in her mind and she could figure out in the peacefulness up here. She sighed of depression and absently fingered a strand of her hair behind her ear.

She had to figure out many things right now. The feelings she had for Ritsu and the emotions that had been tangling in her mind since that day that she realized she was in love with Tainaka Ritsu, the loud careless and stingy Ritsu. The boyish Ritsu. The Ritsu that she loved right now. She had never even put a thought into dating a guy outside, and now she's telling herself that she's loving Ritsu! That was accidental and stupid for her.

Mio remembered that day when she realized that her feelings for Ritsu was deeper than being best friends. Her feelings for that girl was love. She was actually meeting a point where she could turn away from the fact or move on with a permanent knot in her heart that she had to keep forever. She have to solve this thing as soon as possible. Either she confessed, or she moved from this place, and forget about Ritsu and start a new life outside. In a new school, a new place...and get to know new friends.

The day before she knew that she loved Ritsu...She could never forget that day...never

~Beginning of Flashback~

_As usual, the five of them departed at the traffic light and they went their separate ways. Mio walked home together with Ritsu as they lived in the same area, while Yui and Azusa walked together and Mugi was heading for the train station. They passed by the usual shops and houses. And then as they walked pass an alleyway, they suddenly heard a growling sound that sounded like a dog. Mio's face instantly turned white and green and back to white. She froze there and Ritsu knew what was going on. Mio would never stop crying until she chased that dog away._

_Mio hid in one corner to sob her heart out as Ritsu searched for a weapon that would not hurt the animal but could scare it away. Finally, she found a long ruler and pointed it at that canine. "Shoo! Shoo! Go away, dog!"_

_At last, the dog ran away whimpering and Ritsu shoved the ruler back into her bag and knelt beside Mio. She patted Mio's back softly and looked at her with concern. "It's alright, Mio. It's alright. Look at there...The dog's gone. It's nowhere to be seen. So come on, stop crying and let's get some ice-cream!" she tried to comfort Mio._

_She stopped crying and smiled with gratitude at Ritsu. She felt so much better with that ferocious dog gone and they went for ice-cream. Mio couldn't believe that the stingy Ritsu would actually pay for the ice-creams and let her eat one of them. As they reached Mio's house, she asked Ritsu to stay with her because she was afraid that the dog would come back again and her parents were not around these days. Ritsu agreed and she accompanied Mio till she was asleep, only did Ritsu left. _

~End of Flashback

And the day after the incident, she knew that she's deep into the hole already. She could never ever climb back up no matter how hard she try, because her feelings for that girl was too deep already.

* * *

Ritsu opened the door into the music room and peeked inside. "Mio, are you in here?" she called out. Apparently, Mio wasn't in because there was no one in here except for little Ton-chan who was swimming freely in its tank. Ritsu smiled as she remembered how Mio had been at first when they bought the creature back here. She was so afraid of this thing.

She approached the tank and knelt in front of it. She poured some food into the tank and giggled when she saw Ton-chan gobbling up all the food. Ritsu sighed and stood up straight. "Ton-chan, tell me. Should I confess to her or should I not? I am quite afraid that she would reject me, you know." Just as expected, Ton-chan didn't hear her and continued swimming. "Why don't you tell me like this? If you think I should confess, you poke your head out of the water. If you think I shouldn't confess, you stay in the water. How's that?" Ritsu continued talking as if that creature would understand even a word of what she was saying.

To her utter shockness and common senses, she couldn't believe what she saw. Ton-chan flailed its arms around and swam upwards until its head was above the water surface. "Do that again, Ton-chan!" she demanded of the turtle.

Ton-chan poked its head out of the water again. "Wow! You know what I am talking about, right? I am talking about Mio. About _I love Mio_!" Ton-chan swam upwards again.

"Thank you, Ton-chan you really helped me. But I can't find her. You couldn't help me with that, right? Well, I'll go find her. I'll tell her how I feel about her!"

When Ritsu came out of the music room, she was practically skipping out of there, with a big smile plastered on her face, tugging at the ends of her mouth.

She had been in love Mio since that day when she chased that dog away and watching her drifting off to sleep. She was cute that time, with the red blushed tinting her cheeks. When Mio was asleep and she realized her feelings, she kissed Mio on the lips, although she didn't know about that.

* * *

She opened her eyes and her drowsiness hadn't pass yet. As her drowsiness passed off, she sat up on the bench and saw that the Sun was already setting down among the mountains. _It was this late already, _she thought. She was so tired of thinking about her and Ritsu and all those emotions that she tried to shake them off by sleeping. Apparently, it didn't work. They came back to her mind as soon as she woke up. She yawned and stood up and smoothed her skirt. She picked up her bass and headed for the door that lead downstairs. But before her hand touched the handle, it flew open revealing the face of Ritsu panting for breath.

Mio stared at Ritsu in silence and Ritsu stared back at her. Her heart was pounding so hard and she didn't know what to say. Ritsu took the next action card and hugged her, embracing her around the neck. "Thank God you're okay. Thank God you're safe. Do you know how much I worry about you when I was running around the school looking for you? My worries adding as each minute pass until Nodoka-chan told me that she saw you coming up here just now. I was so damn worried that I skipped the classes after recess, just to look for you."

Mio on the other hand didn't know what to do. She had rarely seen Ritsu so emotional before. The only time she saw Ritsu became so emotional was when she failed in her test in junior high school. She lifted her arms but stopped in midair. She was struggling in between the decisions whether to return her hug or just let it be so.

In the end, she hugged Ritsu and wrapped her arms tightly around the friend that she loved so much that it hurts. "I am sorry, Ritsu. I am really sorry. I didn't know it would end up making you so worry. I'm sorry. I promise I would return your favor. I promise."

"Don't." Ritsu's one word made Mio stopped and Mio frowned.

"What?"

"I said don't. Don't promise me anything, just promise me this one thing." Ritsu pulled away from the hug and stared into Mio's eyes. "Promise me that you would never ever leave me alone again. Promise me that you'll stay by my side forever. Just promise me this. That's enough for me."

Why did she feel that something good was coming up? "What are you talking about, Ritsu?"

Ritsu kissed and that took Mio aback. Mio was stunned for awhile. But she returned Ritsu's kiss anyway. She ground her mouth into Ritsu's shaping it to fit hers and then Mio's mouth opened. Ritsu took the chance and dug her tongue into the Mio's mouth and explored the taste of her, every teeth. Their tongue danced together until Mio pulled away for a gasp of breath.

"What was that?" Mio gasped.

"Mio," Ritsu cupped Mio's face with her palms, "I love you. I've been in love with you since that day when I chased that damn dog away, when I was watching you drifting to dreams, I realized that I love you and when I left, I kissed you on the lips."

She didn't know how to do with that confession from Ritsu. But after she absorbed what was going on, she smiled. "You know what, Ritsu, I love you too and also since that day. I've been struggling with a lot of emotions after that: guilt, love, compassion and everything...I don't know how to let it off. I've been up here all day, thinking about you about everything we shared. And when I heard you say you love me, you have to know how relieved I am. So relieved."

Mio pulled Ritsu's face to her and kissed her again. They had their happy ending after all.


End file.
